as the story goes, i was driving down and hit a small bump in the road. there nothing special about this bump and it wasn't even that big. anyway, when i hit it there was and audible thump in the rear that kinda sounded like what i though was my trackbar hitting my gastank skidplate (something that hasn't happend before). needless to say, my wife looks at me and asks "what was that?" so, i pull over into a parking lot and found this....

anyway, i took a couple of bungie cords, strapped my shock up and out of the way and headed home. much to my surprise, the ride of my jeep wasn't adversely effected by the break. i have since removed the shock and can i still make my way around town without any problems.

so, what went wrong? i'm not exactly sure but my best guess is that there must have been a crack in the axle mount caused from bottoming out my shocks before installing air bags in my coils (yes, i like to load up my roof rack). after some time and fatigue, it finally gave out on something simple.

what will i do now? well, i've already talked to northridge4x4 and have purchased some nth degree shock shifters and a set of new walker evans shocks. the only thing i have to do now is find a good welder in my neck of the woods to hack off the existing mounts and weld on the new ones. :(

oh well, i guess i'll have some more write-ups coming soon :roll:

mrblaine

02-14-2005 10:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wayoflife

as the story goes, i was driving down and hit a small bump in the road. there nothing special about this bump and it wasn't even that big. anyway, when i hit it there was and audible thump in the rear that kinda sounded like what i though was my trackbar hitting my gastank skidplate (something that hasn't happend before). needless to say, my wife looks at me and asks "what was that?" so, i pull over into a parking lot and found this....

anyway, i took a couple of bungie cords, strapped my shock up and out of the way and headed home. much to my surprise, the ride of my jeep wasn't adversely effected by the break. i have since removed the shock and can i still make my way around town without any problems.

so, what went wrong? i'm not exactly sure but my best guess is that there must have been a crack in the axle mount caused from bottoming out my shocks before installing air bags in my coils (yes, i like to load up my roof rack). after some time and fatigue, it finally gave out on something simple.

what will i do now? well, i've already talked to northridge4x4 and have purchased some nth degree shock shifters and a set of new walker evans shocks. the only thing i have to do now is find a good welder in my neck of the woods to hack off the existing mounts and weld on the new ones. :(

oh well, i guess i'll have some more write-ups coming soon :roll:

You would have been much better suited to forego the extensions. They increase the leverage against the stock mount and rapidly decrease it's lifespan.

wayoflife

02-14-2005 10:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrblaine

You would have been much better suited to forego the extensions. They increase the leverage against the stock mount and rapidly decrease it's lifespan.

yeah, hindsight is always 20/20. for those of you out there who are reading this thread, please learn from my mistakes.

moitura

02-14-2005 11:00 AM

So what is the better solution for lifting your jeep? Buy the shock relocators and decrease your shock mount life or install your shocks upside down and thus (I think) decreasing your shocks life?

wayoflife

02-14-2005 11:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by moitura

So what is the better solution for lifting your jeep? Buy the shock relocators and decrease your shock mount life or install your shocks upside down and thus (I think) decreasing your shocks life?

i used to run my DT8000's can up and they worked great for a while.... but then they developed an annoying dead spot and basically did nothing for dampening except for big hits. kinda gave a bouncy feel to the ride that i didn't care for. i you can guess, i got the relocators so that i could mount my cans down again and that helped out a lot but most likely contributed to the breaking of my mount as mrblaine pointed out. i suppose you have a couple other options you can consider:

2. expensive solution: buy shocks specifically designed to be mounted can up like blistein 5150's, edelbrock or the like.

either way, i think you'd be better off than going the route i went.

stevelentz

02-14-2005 11:32 AM

If you want to drive inland a bit there is a guy named Joe who owns Sexton Welding, in Orange, that does great work and he's a wheeler so i'm sure he would help you out. I don't have his number off hand, but i'm sure you could look it up.

I cut mine with a cutoff wheel on an die grinder. Chopped mine off following along the brake hardlines.

Oh, and I also un DT-3000s upside down, too. I was planning on flipping them back can-down, but never bothered. Been running with them can-up for a couple of years and don't notice any ill effects from it.